pervagatus

Forms

pervagātus (feminine pervagāta, neuter pervagātum, comparative pervagātior, superlative pervagātissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin pervagor (“to wander through, spread”).^[2][1][3] That verb is a compound of per- and vagor (“to wander”), from vagus (“roaming”),^[4] which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *wago-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[3] whose De inventione uses the comparative of arguments that apply widely, pervagātior, fitting all or most cases of a kind.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is widely known or familiar: Cicero speaks of everyday, familiar exercises, opera cotīdiāna et pervagāta, of a very well-known verse, pervagātissimus versus, and of rumour and talk spread among the people.^[2][6] He often joins it with vulgāris, cotīdiānus or commūnis, and uses the neuter plural for commonplace precepts, ista commūnia et pervagāta.^[6][7] The TLL groups it with pervulgātus and commūnis in meaning.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of arguments of wide application and of things widely known.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Widely known, familiar, commonplace.^[2][6]
2. Of wide application, general.^[2][5]

Related words

• pervagor
• vagor
• vagus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften